Air-drying apparatus.



PA'TENTED 001:. so, 1906.

* c. 0. WILLIAMS.

AIR DRYING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED APB-19.1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Inventor.- f 1Q )7 PATENTED OCT. 30, 1906.

0. 0. WILLIAMS. AIR DRYING APPARATUS APPLIGATION FILED APR.19.,1906.

2 EHEETS-SHEET 2 To all whom it may concern:

- UNITED STATES PATENT- OFFICE.

CHARLES O. WILLIAMS, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO FEDERAL GAS COMPANY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, A CORPORATION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

AIR-DRYING APPARATUS. I

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 30, 1906.

Application filed April 19, 1906- Serial No. 312,528. I

Be it know'n'that I, CHARLES O. WILLIAMS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of St.- Louis and State of Missouri,

have invented a new and useful Improvement in Air-Drying Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates toair-drying apparatus, and has for its rincipal objects to provide a better circu ation of air within the drying-tank and to provide for cleaning the interior of the tank and for renewing the drying material and to attain other objects hereinafter more fully appearing.

In the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, and wherein like symbols refer to like parts wherever they occur, Figure 1 is a front elevation of the drgingapparatus with one of the drying-tan in section. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of a portion of one of the drying-tanks. Fig. 3is a vertical section of a portion of one of the d 'ng-tanks on the line 3 3 of Fi 2.

he construction of one of ille drying- -tanks 1 will first be described.

The drying-tank is preferabl rectangular in cross-section and is provide with an alrsupply pipe opening into the upper portion ipe opening into the lower portion thereof: Within the tank a series-of inclined shelves 2 are loosely mounted on angle-iron supports 3, secured to opposite side walls of the tank. The shelves slfipport a suitable drg'ngmaterial, such as c orid of calcium.

. ber of openings 5, which provide passageways directly through the drying material.

The shelves being corrugated, the" liquid formed by the deliquescence of the drying material collects in the grooves or troughs between the rid es and drains to the side wall of the tank y reason of the inclination of the shelves, whence it drips down the wall to the bottom of the tank. By thus arranging the air-openings 5 above the liquid which forms in the air-drying process a free and unimpeded circulation of air is maintained.

ach shelf is slightly spaced from one of the side walls of the tank,

dition of the interior of the tank and its contents. I

The arrangement of a series of tanks is as follows: An air-supply pipe 10 is provided with a branch pipe 11, which islocated convenient to the tank, preferabl overhead,

and from the branch pipe exten valved airsupply pi es 12, which 0 en into the upper portion 0 the tanks. Va ved d elivery-plpes 13 open'into thelower portion of the tank and communicate with said branch pipe. The branch pipe 11 also has valves 14 arranged intermediate the respective supply and delivery pipes.

The above-described arrangement of pipes may be applied to all the tanks of a series; but the last tank is preferably provided with a slightly different arrangement. The supply-pipe 15 for this tank opens into the lower portion of the tank and communicates with the delivery-pipe 13 of the preceding tank, so

that the air from said preceding tank passes directly to the last tank. The delivery-pipe for the last tank communicates with the upper portion of the tank.

The lower heads of the tank are centrally depressed, and a drain-pipe 16, provided with valved branches 1 7, communicates therewith. Said drai-n=pipe opens into a suitable reservoir or draina e-receptacle 18.

The operation 0% the ap aratus is as follows: Air is drawn through the pipe 10- by means of an airump and enters the first or leading tank of t e series by way of its supplypipe 12. The air circulates through the tank, as hereinbefore described, and then passes out into its delivery-pipe 13. Said deliverypipe communicates with the second tank of the serles by way of the branch pipe 11 and.

the supply-pipe 12 of that tank, the valves in the above-mentioned pipes being open. The air then circulates through the second tank as in the first, and the same process may be continued through any number of tanks. A slightly-different arrangement of piping is preferably provided for the last tank of the series, as before described, so that the air enters that tank at the lower portion by-Way of the pipe 15, which communicates with the lower portion of the preceding tank.

Consequently the air in this tank circulates upwardly and is delivered through the outlet-pipe at the top of the tank.

In order to cut off a tank from the series, so that it may be cleaned and the drying material renewed, the valves in the supply and delivery pi es of the tank are closed and the valve in t e branch ipe 12' between said pipes is opened, so t at the air will pass through said branch pipe 12 directly to the next tank of the series.

Obviously my device is capable of considerable modification within the scope of my invention, and therefore I do not wish to be limited to the specific construction shown and described.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters -Patent,is

1. An air-drying apparatus comprising a tank, an air-supply pipe and an air-delivery pipe opening into said tank, and inclined corrugated shelves insaid-tank for the drying material having openings through the ridges thereof, said tank having a contmuous passage-way between the supply-pipe and the delivery-pipe formed by the alternate shelves being spaced from one Wall of the tank and the remaining shelves being spaced from the opposite wall thereof.

2. An air-drying apparatus comprising a tank, an air-supply pipe and an air-delivery pipe opening into said tank, and corrugated shelves in said tank for the drying material having openings through the ridges thereof, 1

said tank having a continuous assage-way between the su ply-pipe and (iblivery-pipe formed by the a ternate shelves being spaced from one wall of the tank and the remaining shelves from the opposite wallthereof.

3. An air-drying apparatus comprising a plurality of tanks, a main air-su ply pipe, a main delivery-pipe an air-supp y pi e and an air-delivery pipe openin into eac 1 tank,-

the delivery-pipe of one tan communicating with another tank and with said main delivery-pipe, and valves for controlling the CHARLES O. WILLIAMS.

Witnesses:

CHARLES D. WEST, WM. M. CADY.. 

